August 87 - The Counter-Attack
The previous turn was pretty good for me and, as you may remember, I decided for a vigorous counter-attack, not least because I would like to finish the game before the game is on the shelves (for patching purposes), and also because times play for the Populares :
In Italy, my dash to Rome goes unopposed. Not much to add to this :
The Rome garrison is weak, the walls are only level one, the Populares are out of sight (they fled North), I have no reason not to assault next turn.
Soon, Rome will be freed from the evil clutches of the Populares.
In Greece, the situation is good as well, but not as good. I get another decisive victory against the Pontics :
Note that the game says that I lost (and lost 1 NM), but I killed much more Pontics and they retreated. We have a beta to get rid of this sort of surprises. It is a clear victory.
Unfortunately, the Pontics spit troops out of nowhere like, er, like something that spits a lot of troops.
That’s 3 armies I can see, and remember the Romans are horrible at scouting :
- One is the army my old nemesis Archelaos from Athenae, that was hidden (in passive posture) and now is recovering in Chalcis
- One is the defeated army of Arcathias. It should be nothing to worry about (20 K exhausted men), except if it merges with…
- That last unidentified force in Amphipolis.
As the first two of these armies are basically out of steam, I am going to use the Roman massive mobility to do a massive mop-up operation :
Yes, the orders are to move North, crush Arcathias once again, then rush to Athenae (in case Archelaos try to attack it), then back to Chalcis, where I expect to defeat the old guy and take Chalcis. I just hope Archelaos does not hide in Chalcis, else the assault will be an horribly messy battle.
Finally, the only bad news are brought by Lucullus.
As you may remember, he was happily getting rid of Pirates, and he was doing this pretty well :
After a couple battles like this against the pirates, I was getting confident, when I see this :
Uh… some Pontic scouts. Nothing to write home about, thinks Lucullus.
And then, a wild Pontic army appears at the horizon, and fall down on Selinus
Oupsie.
I have no idea why the AI decided to commit 40 K men in the area, but it sure surprised me there. [One of the reason is that the Pontic armies are so large that the Pontic player can not commit everything it has on the same front at the same time, lest everyone starves]
Well, for Lucullus, with his 15 K glorified garrison versus a 40 K heavy army, there is only one conclusion :
So off we row to get some more naval allies for Roma, in Cyprus now :
Beginner’s Corner : Supply
OK, the former beginner’s corner was fairly easy, but now we are going to see some fairly complex subject, including one that will make you win or lose the game : supply.
I will not cover ammo supplies for now, only “regular” supplies, AND I might make a few mistakes doing so.
Supply works significantly differently AJE compared to other AGEOD games (RoP, AACW, PoN, RUS) – so if you want to use this guide for another game, be cautious. Supply in AJE is fairly similar to supply in WiA, though.
What is supply ? How do I have information on my level of supply ?
Every element (except leaders) in your army consumes supplies. Even your supply wagons consume supplies each turn. Supply can be counted in two ways – in “supply units” and in "turns" (months) – beware, I will have to use both way of counting.
The maximum supply a unit can carry depends on the unit :
- Most “regular” units (incl. cavalry) can carry 2 months (turns) of supplies.
- Some rare units (legions, of course, but also some heavy cavalry) can carry 3 months of supplies.
Ships and siege units can differ from these “standard” values.
Note that this does NOT mean that two regular units can carry the same amount of supply, or even that Indians carry more supply units : but for a given "type" a unit consuming more supplies carries more supplies). For instance, let me show you some supply consumption, and show you where to see the current level of supply by the same occasion:
Now the supply wagons and other supply units :
A supply wagon element can carry 20 “bonus” supply units, for a total of 80 supply units for a complete supply wagon unit (4 elements - I hope it is clear). This means that the impact of a unit of supply wagon in a large army will be minimal (1 month ?) but it will adds up with more supply wagons.
Units in provinces with allied supply wagons will (at the beginning of a turn) first “eat” the supply units of the wagons, then their own, even if the wagons are not in their stack. Let me show you this :
With the wagons, the stack has only about 50% of its maximum supply
Without the wagons, the stack has about 67% of its maximum supply, the wagons “left” with the minimum to hold one turn, not more (=8 supplies).
Magazines and transport ships work the same way.
What happens if you are short on supply ?
Short on supply but still something to eat : nothing. Try to solve the situation ASAP.
Not enough supplies this turn : your army loses its combat efficiency very quickly, and receive hits. The first turn, as only you probably only have a small deficit of supply in your stack, not much. The following turns – much more.
How to produce supply ?
Supplies is produced in (almost) every province. The supply produced every turn corresponds to the "supply level" of a province, with the rule 1 supply level = 5 supply units produced per turn. You can see the supply level of a province by hovering the mouse over it. There are two “origins” for the supply :
- The countryside of a region, provided the region has not be pillaged.
- The structures, provided they are not under siege (or blockaded for ports)
The
countryside of a region generates a base of 0-6 supply levels (0-30 supply units), from desert to “clear” terrain for good weather (clearly if it is winter, you won’t get much of the countryside).
Then to this base you must add +1 if there is a road, + 3 if there is a Roman Road.
Once you have this “modified base”, you must multiply it by 2 if the civilization level is “civilized”, by 3 if the civilization level is rich. That’s the total supply that will be produced next turn in the province
For instance, take Doriskos. Clear terrain by fair weather has a base of 6. Add one for the road, you got 7. It is civilized, so x2 – and you find back your 14.
To calculate your “share” of the supply, you need to multiply the supply produced by your military control. For instance, in this example (as the Populares) :
Clear terrain in a rainy day has a base of 5. Add the Roman road (+3) and you got 8. It is rich, so 8 * 3 = 24. Unfortunately, the Populares only control 33%, so that’s back to 8.
The
structures are all or nothing. Either you do not control them and you got nothing from them, or you control them and you got everything. Except if you are sieged, in which case you still got nothing.
- Cities generate 2 supply levels (10 supply units) per level,
- Ports generate 2 supply levels (10 supply) units) per level, except if blockaded,
- Forts generate 1 supply level (5 supply units) per level,
- Depots generate 5 supply levels (25 supply units) per level. You can create depots anywhere by sacrificing 8 elements of supply wagons or transport ships (including bateaux). Basically, large armies WILL need depots to operate
If we take the two starting cities of the tutorial as examples :
Narbo :
Woods : Base supply = 5. Roman Roads : +3 = 8. Civ Level "civilized", so *2 = 16.
Depot : 5 per level, so 20.
City : 2 per level, so 12.
Harbor : 2 per level, so 6
Fort : 1 per level, so 1
Total : 16 + 20 + 12 + 6 + 1 = 55
Emporiare :
Hills : Base supply = 5. Roman Roads, so +3 = 8. Civ Level "rich", so *3 = 24.
Depot : 2 per level, so 10.
City : 2 per level, so 8.
Harbor : 2 per level, so 4
Fort : 1 per level, so 2
Total : 24 + 10 + 8 + 4 + 2 = 48
Important : Contrarily to previous AGEOD games, neither National Morale nor Loyalty have impact on supply produced.
How are supplies consumed ?
Units consume supply at the beginning of the turn.
All units will consume supplies the following way :
- First, all the supplies in each stack are pooled
- Then, the stack will use the supply units generated in the province they are in. If it is enough to feed everyone and put the supply stock at 100%, it is over, else…
- The stack will use the supply units generated in the directly neighbouring provinces (provided you control the neighbouring provinces as well – if a city is sieged, it won’t help, of course).
- The game will calculate the new “supply” level of the stack
- If it is negative, the unit will tap the supply reserves of the other stacks in the same province (I think, to be tested)
- If it is not enough, the stack will “pillage” the area to get some extra supply : Each unit in the stack (starting with the one with the highest "patrol" value) in need of supply will do a “foraging” test (high chance to succeed in a rich province, little chance to succeed in a frozen mountain). If it succeeds, it is fed for the turn, just barely. If it fails, the region is “looted” (red circle with fire, which may disappear each spring). No more foraging test is possible on a looted province, which also produces no more supply.
A few extra notes
- Supply produced and not "stocked" by a stack is lost. There is no "stock" in structures, only in units.
- Ships work the same way as land forces (for instance, they can draw supply from neighboring land province), but water provides no supply at all (obviously).
- A sieged fort / depot / city produces no supply, a blocked port (by winter or by an enemy force) produces no supply. You can have a sieged fort with an unblocked port (thus lowering the impact of the siege) or the opposite. Units in landlocked / blockaded structures will eat through their supply every month, then surrender. I hope you have some supply wagons, or a relieving force !
- When a stack with a supply wagons is hit by bad weather (in winter most of the time), the stack will trade supply units from the wagons (and only the wagons) to receive less (down to none) damage. Depending on your supply situation, this can be a good thing or a bad thing.
- Having much more supplie than needed can be very important, as it allows your element to recover their strength (“number of men”). If you want to compensate for the inevitable attrition due to time (i.e. : illness, desertion, …) you will need at least a small excess in supply – and in manpower, object of a coming Beginner’s Corner.
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If you are under siege, you will get no supply, but your opponent will eat the supply of the countryside...
